BBC Music Magazine

BBC Music Magazine is a must for anyone with a passion for classical music. Classical music connoisseurs and new enthusiast alike will enjoy the fascinating features and reviews of over 120 new works in every issue.

Please Note: Our digital edition does not include the cover mount items or supplements you would normally find with printed copies

Welcome

THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS

BBC Music Magazine

Have your say… • Write to: The editor, BBC Music Magazine, Eagle House, Bristol, BS1 4ST Email: music@classical-music.com Social media: contact us on Facebook and X (Twitter)

FREE ONE MONTH TRIAL to the digital edition

The Awards are upon us once more! • Time to vote for the best recordings of the last 12 months

Barbie orchestra set to turn the Royal Albert Hall pink

From sax to scores, Harle is duly honoured

A Geiger encounter

Songs against wrongs

Rising Star • Today’s up-and-coming talent offer advice for their peers

The censors’ refusal to play ball drives Verdi to despair

Also in February 1859…

Music to my ears • The BBC Music Magazine team’s current favourites…

Concert Heaven Concert Hell • Top artists recall their best and worst performances

My Hero • Composer and flautist Valerie Coleman reflects on the impact Doriot Anthony Dwyer had on her fledgling career

A glittering beacon

FAREWELL TO…

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN • Pick a theme… and name your seven favourite examples

Richard Morrison • We credit musical theatre lyricists, so why not great opera librettists?

LateBloomer • Three hundred years ago, Antonio Vivaldi published The Four Seasons. But despite the work’s spectacular popularity today, it was not until the 20th century that it really discovered its true audience, writes Nicholas Kenyon

Seasonal variations • Viols, oratorios, tango and more…

’Tis The Seasons… • Eight landmark recordings

Masaaki Suzuki

An English perspective • Carolyn Sampson on BCJ

Puppet of the Reich? • Wilhelm Furtwängler has long been seen as a symbol of Nazism. But, as Andrew Green explains, the conductor was a strong opponent of the regime

11 Bed-Hopping Composers • Jeremy Pound lifts the covers off those notorious notesmiths who found the thrill of playing away simply too hard to resist

A way with words • Great operas are inextricably linked with their composer but, asks Jessica Duchen, how often do we acknowledge the important role of the librettist?

In so many words • Seven top opera librettos

Kindred spirits • As their second opera takes to the stage, composer Gregory Spears and librettist Tracy K Smith talk to Charlotte Smith about their special partnership

Sing your heart out • The joy of collaboration

AWARDS 2024 • VOTING OPENS THURSDAY 23 JANUARY!

LEADING FROM THE FRONT • From running efficient rehearsals to learning to speak to orchestras with clarity and empathy, an array of exciting courses for conductors has bloomed in recent years, finds Clare Stevens

Atlanta US • Though well known for its world-class orchestra, Georgia’s leafy state capital also boasts a thriving opera scene, as Michael Beek discovers

Hollywood in Atlanta

Christoph Willibald Gluck • Paul Riley traces the wandering existence of a cosmopolitan composer who made it his life’s work and ambition to rip up opera’s rulebook

Gluck’s style

GLUCK Life&Times

Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 4 • Terry Williams explores the best recordings of a symphony that shows the perky sense of humour lurking within its curmudgeonly composer

The composer

Light-footed and full of spirit

Continue the...